1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a system which subjects a test subject or test subjects to certain stimuli, measures a reaction of the test subject or subjects to the stimuli, and subsequently overlappingly records and/or displays in parallel data of both the stimuli and the respective test subject's reaction to the stimuli in synchronization. The recorded data can also then be displayed or replayed to evaluate the test subject's reaction to the stimuli. Test data from a plurality of test subjects can thus be simultaneously recorded and/or stored in parallel.
2. Discussion of the Background
It is often desirable to monitor how a person reacts to certain stimuli, such as an audio presentation, a video presentation, etc. The different ways of monitoring how a patient reacts to such stimuli may be by taking an EKG of the patient, an EEG of the patient, heart rate, etc. As one concrete example, it is often desirable to take EEG measurements of a test subject to determine the brain activity of the test subject. There are many medical applications that require testing and measuring of EEG signals to determine a test subject's medical condition. There are also instances in which it is desirable to measure a test subject's brain activity for other purposes.
One such purpose is to monitor a test subject's brain activity to measure the test subject's reaction or interest to certain stimuli. For example, it may be desirable to be able to measure a test subject's attention level to a particular marketing idea, television commercial, presentation, etc.
One problem with measuring a subject's response to certain stimuli and effectively using that data to provide a meaningful graphical representation of the subject's responses to the certain stimuli occurs when the test giver attempts to accurately correlate the subjects response to the stimuli.
That is, after, as one example, an EEG measurement is taken of a test subject, this data must be evaluated relative to the stimuli to which the test subject was subjected. This is often a very difficult and time consuming operation since it is often very difficult to correspond the test subject's reaction as indicated in the EEG data obtained from monitoring the test subject, with the stimuli to which the test subject was subjected.